Phosphate fertilizer plays an essential role in growth and development and determines plant productivity. In addition, the rapid depletion of non-renewable raw material sources as well as the negative impacts of phosphate mining on the land, water and ecosystem have attracted special attention from scientists to find solutions to improve crop varieties and increase efficiency in absorbing and using Phosphate. Inheriting the results of genome-wide association study (GWAS) on a group of nearly 200 sequenced native rice varieties, we propose to use gene editing technology to improve the phosphate utilization efficiency in rice, towards sustainable agricultural development, with some specific goals as follows:
- Accurately locate the SNP that determines the ability of rice plants to absorb and utilize phosphate in soil using QTL-sequencing method.
- Understand the molecular mechanism of candidate genes in rice for the ability to absorb and use phosphate using functional genomic analysis.
- Improving an elite Vietnamese rice variety to improve the ability to utilize Phosphate using precise gene editing methods.
Main contents of the project:
- Content 1 (January 2022-December 2022): Accurately identify the SNP that determines the ability to utilize Phosphate using QTL-sequencing method.
- Content 2 (January 2022-June 2025): Research the gene function of candidate genes using loss-of-function, gain-of-function methods and histological anatomy of the promoter line associated with the Gus reporter gene.
- Content 3 (January 2023-June 2025): Editing GDPD5 and/or GDPD13 genes for a popular Vietnamese rice variety.
To expand the application of research on the ability to improve the absorption and utilization of phosphate in native Vietnamese rice plants, along with accurate information on the alleles that determine high phosphate absorption and utilization, we will select an elite Vietnamese rice variety to improve its ability to utilize Phosphate. First, we will conduct a survey on the ability to use phosphate on 50 popular Vietnamese rice varieties to select elite lines with high yield but low ability to use Phosphate. After selecting the variety to be improved, we will transfer the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing construct through a process optimized for indigenous rice gene transfer. The impact of mutations in the GDPDs gene on changes in root structure as well as phosphate utilization efficiency of mutant rice in Vietnamese rice will be evaluated by phenotype and by quantitative methods of phosphate utilization efficiency.
Project impact
Impact on science & technology development and education:
Gene editing technology in general and precise genome editing in particular is a breakthrough technology, especially promising to make a great contribution to the field of agricultural biology. The project has the participation of lecturers and researchers from USTH, IBT-VAST and with the strong support of the gene editing research team at the Faculty of Applied Life Sciences (Gyeongsang National University, Korea). We expect to develop into a strong research group specializing in genome editing and tissue anatomy research in rice in Vietnam. Mastering this technology will contribute to improving research and teaching capacity and speed up the process of selecting productive and quality plant varieties. In the future, we hope to develop rice varieties that can withstand some adverse environmental conditions.
Impact on socio-economy and environment:
The rice lines created are considered not to carry transgenes and are environmentally friendly. They are transferred in the form of transferring research materials to breeding and production units to create new rice varieties for production. And if new rice breeding is done in the right direction, it will reduce the use of phosphate fertilizer, reducing fertilizer costs, which means increasing income for farmers. Furthermore, reducing the exploitation and use of phosphate also reduces environmental pollution, avoids eutrophication, and avoids pollution due to the accumulation of heavy metal Cadmium when exploiting phosphate mines, contributing towards sustainable agriculture development goals.
